DSWD execs also puzzled over benefits of suspect

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—How did a murder suspect in Bukidnon province end up receiving a school project from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)? Social welfare officials are just as surprised as their boss, Secretary Judy Taguiwalo.

Alde “Butsoy” Salusad, a “lumad” militia leader being blamed for several killings in indigenous communities in Bukidnon, became a beneficiary of Kapit Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS)-National Community Driven Development when he was already a murder suspect as early as 2012.

Taguiwalo demanded an explanation from the DSWD regional officials.

Salusad’s alleged crimes included the July 30 attack on a lumad community in Barangay Kawayan in the town of San Fernando, Bukidnon. The man was also tagged as the assailant of Dao village chair Jimmy Liguyon, a staunch antimining advocate, in 2012. The court has issued a warrant for his arrest.

“We now have to wonder if the warrant against Salusad for the murder of [Liguyon] still stands,” Taguiwalo said.

“The field workers of [the regional DSWD office] were able to meet him, interview him, take pictures of him wearing a camouflage uniform and sporting an ammo pouch,” she said. “Why can’t the local police authorities find him and serve the warrant?” she added.

In a statement on Tuesday, Nestor Ramos, the regional DSWD director, said that when a Kalahi team went to Sitio Kiranggol in Dao, they did not have a clue that Salusad was a murder suspect.

It was Salusad, with community leader Lestino Lacawan, who led the gathering of residents for a dialogue for the selection of a team to build a three-classroom building in the area, he said.

The regional DSWD office “had no prior knowledge of Butsoy’s previous run-in with the law and is neither aware of an outstanding warrant for his arrest,” Ramos said.